The Golden Dream, directed by Diego Quemada-Díez Warmth and compassion override the wretchedness in an authentic portrayal of illegal immigrants trying to enter the US, says Philip Kemp 26 June
The Valley of Astonishment, Young Vic, London Peter Brook’s play about synaesthesia delights Matthew Reisz with its blend of philosophical themes and Shakespearean comedy By Matthew Reisz 19 June
Belle, directed by Amma Asante Catherine Clinton admires the story of a mixed-race girl with an aristocratic upbringing told against the background of the abolition of slavery 12 June
Grace of Monaco, directed by Olivier Dahan A biopic fails to make sense or cinema of her princess life: Grace Kelly’s own films attest to her greatness as actor and star, says Lucy Bolton 5 June
The Wonder of Birds: Nature, Art, Culture Birds have been portrayed in myriad ways over the centuries. Victoria de Rijke admires a selection of some of the best 29 May
International Exchanges: Modern Art and St Ives, 1915-1965, Tate St Ives Fiona Hackney considers the small colony of artists whose influence was felt far beyond their Cornish base 22 May
The Two Faces of January, directed by Hossein Amini Mary Evans on a film adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s 1964 novel that questions the limits placed on the imagination by ‘normal’ behaviour 15 May
Wedding Dresses 1775-2014, V&A Celebrity creations and vintage gowns delight in an exhibition that marries social history and fashion, says Shahidha Bari 8 May
Comics Unmasked: Art and Anarchy in the UK, British Library Words and pictures combine to tackle controversial issues in this edgy art form, says Will Brooker 1 May
Chris Marker: A Grin without a Cat, Whitechapel Gallery, London A rare retrospective of the French filmmaker’s work reveals themes of perception and time, suggests Davina Quinlivan 24 April
British Surrealism Unlocked: Works from the Sherwin Collection A GP’s art collection offers a comprehensive view of an overlooked movement By Matthew Reisz 17 April
The Malcontent, by John Marston By using ‘children’ in adult roles the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse both challenges the audience and returns to original practice 10 April
Variety Acts and Turns of the Early 1930s Music hall constantly adapted to survive, yet the cultural form is often dismissed. Fern Riddell considers our collective memory 3 April
Rwanda in Photographs: Death Then, Life Now Shahidha Bari finds vivid and lurid representations of the unnerving normality of the everyday in today’s Rwanda 27 March
To cut a long story short The new MMU Novella Award will champion a form that continues to defy definition but which, says Robert Graham, prose fiction writers love 20 March
Ruin Lust At Tate Britain, Leo Mellor finds potency, fatalism and beauty in depictions of transience, both gradual and cataclysmic 13 March
Edinburgh’s arrested development The lack of vision over the future landscape of the city is laying the foundations for trouble, says Richard J. Williams 6 March
Etty Hillesum: an intellectual woman ahead of her time Mary Evans on the insights into persecution, knowledge and sexuality of a Dutch Jewish writer killed in Auschwitz 27 February
Review: Only Lovers Left Alive The vampire as cultured aesthete is the beatless heart of Jim Jarmusch’s peculiarly reassuring film, says Lucy Bolton 20 February
The ‘unpleasurable’ complexity of Lars von Trier Will the Danish director’s controversial new film Nymphomaniac live up to his masterpieces? Davina Quinlivan hopes so 13 February
Review: Dallas Buyers Club The tale of an unsaintly Aids sufferer’s rebellion sidesteps sentimentality and hints at hope, says Duncan Wu 6 February
Making Painting: Helen Frankenthaler and J. M. W. Turner Turner Contemporary in Margate allows visually convincing comparisons in the work of two major artists, finds Alexander Massouras 30 January
Reclaim your linguistic property Chants, used positively by Tottenham Hotspur fans, must not be appropriated by anti-Semites looking for an excuse to tout hatred, says Emma Rees 23 January
Review: The Duchess of Malfi Physical aspects of a new theatre both add to and detract from a convincingly chilling tale of sororicide, attests Liz Schafer 16 January
Sherlock Holmes: a very British superhero The 21st-century reincarnation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation is our version of Superman, argues Fern Riddell 2 January
Natural Histories: A Project by Miguel Ángel Blanco The alchemy between art and nature gives food for thought, writes Philip Hoare 19 December
Singapore Biennale 2013: a show that fizzes with ideas Mutability and periphery come to the fore in an event focused on Southeast Asia’s artists, writes Peter Hill 12 December
Review: Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s A hagiographic look at a US designer store is all style, no substance, Pamela Church Gibson argues 5 December
Shakespeare by numbers: my quest to see every single play Emma Rees is 34 down, four to go in a bid to see the Bard’s entire canon on stage 28 November
A Lasting Legacy: The House and Collection of Victor Skipp An exhibition built around the collection of a historian and art hoarder reveals his boundless capacity for seeing things, Alexander Massouras finds 21 November
Review: The Counsellor Our complicity as onlookers sharpens Cormac McCarthy’s bleak morality tale, Duncan Wu finds 14 November
A front-row view of Louisiana’s slow death Anna Hartnell takes part in an immersive theatre experience that has audiences bear witness to environmental catastrophe 7 November
Gothic: The Dark Heart of Film Davina Quinlivan considers the monster as a figure of loss and sadness as the BFI begins a season of ghoulish thrills 31 October
Review: The Selfish Giant Clio Barnard’s loose adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s short story sees children condemned to life on the scrapheap 24 October
Paul Klee: Making Visible Alex Danchev delights in Tate Modern’s finely chosen feast of delicacies from the table of Paul Klee 17 October
Inside Out Festival 2013 turns academics loose Celebrating the nobility of failure By Matthew Reisz 10 October
Shades of grey among the eBay ‘Lowrys’ Richard Howells’ online hunt for ‘masterpieces’ may be a playful act of irony, but it also questions the nature of artistic authenticity 3 October
Ninth International London Tattoo Convention A lecturer talks about her fascination with body art 26 September
Just William deserves critical recognition Richmal Crompton’s stories have thrilled generations of children but critics have kept their distance. It is time the establishment embraced them 19 September
Spanish Golden Age Theatre Season, Theatre Royal, Bath Jonathan Thacker hopes that three comedia nueva plays - combining comedy and tragedy - will herald a revival of a lesser-known art form 12 September
Blue Stockings, Shakespeare’s Globe Jessica Swale’s rollicking play about women in 1890s Cambridge fighting for the recognition of their education has relevance today 5 September
Zoë Svendsen on the dramaturge’s role at the heart of the action The ‘creative consultant’ at work in the National Theatre’s new production of Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II 29 August
Elysium, directed by Neill Blomkamp Will Brooker on a science fiction blockbuster that, despite the clichés, has much to say about inequality and oppression 22 August
What Maisie Knew, directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel Rachel Bowlby on a modern retelling of Henry James’ tale of childhood curiosity and parental shortcomings 15 August
Foxfire’s sisters in arms Laurent Cantet’s gritty group portrait of a 1950s girl gang of teenage avengers 8 August
Paris Intense: The Nabis – from Bonnard to Vallotton Christoph Bode reflects on a Munich exhibition of artists who rejected representation in favour of an emphasis on materiality 1 August
The Taming of the Shrew: tragedy, comedy or farce? Three recent productions at Shakespeare’s Globe highlight to the challenge of how to present Katherina’s submission 25 July
Magic and mischief from Africa Exhibitions on Ibrahim El-Salahi and Meschac Gaba evidence Tate Modern’s determinedly global sensibility, Shahidha Bari finds 18 July
Monsters University: college will cost you Despite Disney Pixar’s best efforts, campus jokes just aren’t funny any more, argues Martin McQuillan 11 July
Count Arthur Strong Gary Day welcomes the master of malapropism to a screen with a scale that matches his talent: small 4 July
Such stuff as Chinese dreams are made on Austin Williams on contrasting film treatments of a nascent superpower’s hopes and dreams 27 June
Memory Palace: the forgotten future A new exhibition at the V&A fuses words and art in an unforgettable dystopian vision, says Aaron Rosen 20 June
Hollywood madness Davina Quinlivan detects a shift to more rounded representations of mental illness on screen 13 June
Liberace: an affair to remember The high camp of Behind the Candelabra conceals an old-fashioned love story, Duncan Wu writes 6 June
The horrifying fascination of Titus Andronicus A new production of Shakespeare’s brutal play continues to elicit disquieting questions about moral values 30 May
Great Gatsby-mania Catherine Clinton examines the novel’s enduring appeal as Baz Luhrmann’s version of The Great Gatsby bursts on to cinema screens 23 May
Ellen Gallagher: Freud meets his interlocutor on a black planet Tate Modern exhibition AxMe shows African American artist talking back to race and gender history 16 May
Saloua Raouda Choucair, Tate Modern, London Shahidha Bari traces the development of Lebanese artist Saloua Raouda Choucair, who, at 97, gets her first major museum exhibition 9 May
So excited about Pedro Almódovar’s new film The director returns to his roots in the screwball sex comedy I’m So Excited. By Lucy Bolton 2 May